I find above all that the expression, atonal music, is most unfortunate — it is on a par with calling flying the art of not falling, or swimming the art of not drowning.
Interpretation
Schoenberg critiques the label 'atonal music' by comparing it to negative definitions of other art forms.
In this quote, Arnold Schoenberg expresses his discontent with the term 'atonal music,' suggesting that such a label reduces a complex and rich art form to a mere absence or avoidance of conventional elements. By likening it to describing flying as simply not falling, Schoenberg emphasizes that true art transcends simple definitions based on what it lacks and instead should be appreciated for its unique qualities and expressions.
In practice
In a lecture on modern music, this quote can illustrate the complexity of art definitions.
I never was very capable of expressing my feelings or emotions in words. I don't know whether this is the cause why I did it in music and also why I did it in painting. Or vice versa: That I had this way as an outlet. I could renounce expressing something in words.
I owe very, very much to Mozart; and if one studies, for instance, the way in which I write for string quartet, then one cannot deny that I have learned this directly from Mozart. And I am proud of it!
There is still plenty of good music to be written in C major.
I am the slave of an internal power more powerful than my education.
My music is not modern, it is merely badly played
And they three passed over the white sands, between the rocks, silent as the shadows.
The great thing about performance capture is you can go off, and then, without changing costume, you can become another character.
And as a writer now, I want to save Linda's life. Not her body--her life.
I write poetry because I can’t disobey the impulse; it would be like blocking a spring that surges up in my throat. For a long time I’ve been the servant of the song that comes, that appears and can’t be buried away. How to seal myself up now?…It no longer matters to me who receives what I submit. What I carry out is, in that respect, greater and deeper than I, I am merely the channel.
Music is one of the fairest and most glorious gifts of God.
When I was a child, I used to paint intently. The older I become, and the closer death approaches, the brighter my life gets day by day.
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